Condotels and condominiums are the latest real estate investment craze in the Philippines, pushing the island country into one of the hottest markets in Southeast Asia.

PropertyWire.com, a commercial real estate news service, reports that investors are experiencing returns on rentals of up to 16 percent on new condo rentals. The influx of cash is coming from all around the world.

Beth Collingz, spokesperson for PLC International, a condotel developer in the country "sees the next growth market for real estate in the country coming from Russian nationals on the back of the marked increase in first time property buyers from Russia entering the Philippines."

Prices are rising because of demand and as a result of the rising cost of materials. Unlike its international counterparts on the Asian continent, Philippine developers must import all their construction materials.

In the face of a slowing, but growing economy, the tourism industry has contributed to the drive ahead of condotel development there.

TravelIndustryWire.com reports that rate of visitors from North America continues to surge. "Despite the perceived economic slow down, visitors from the U.S. remain a sizeable share of the tropical archipelago's inbound tourism, posting a 7.1 percent increase during the first two months of 2008," according to a report from the site. "Canadian tourist arrivals contributed a staggering 18.7 growth percentage, bringing the total increase for North America to 9.7 percent."

Published: September 29, 2008

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Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.